Trip to the dentist left woman with a Geordie accent

There is a bit of Geordie in Karen Butler’s accent, a dash of South African, and still a trace of the vampire that most alarmed her family when she came home from the dentist a changed woman.

Mrs Butler is a 56-year-old tax accountant and mother of five from western Oregon who had never been outside the United States before undergoing extensive oral surgery a year and a half ago. She still has not been abroad. She just sounds as if she has.

Her story began with a severe case of gingivitis — inflammation of the gum that can eventually attack the jawbone. “Vanity was overridden by necessity so I made arrangements for Dr [Gregory] Herkert to pull all mah upper teeth and make me a…